Taco Man

Written on Tuesday, February 15, 2000

Volksie made her way to her car. The meeting had been bad. Very bad. She was in the state between tears and anger where nothing would come out right. She was frustrated and just wanted to go home, but she knew that once she got there she would be restless.

She had just inserted the key into the door when a well dressed man ran up to her and said something that would change her life from that point on.

"Hey there foxy lady, can I buy you a taco?"

Dave woke with a start. He looked to his left and saw that a cop was hunched over and looking back at him. He unrolled the window and the officer moved back and said, "Sir, I'm just checking to make sure you are all right."

With a feeling of relief, Dave nodded and the officer moved on. A wave of anxiety then hit him when he realized that he had fallen asleep. He peered through four lanes of traffic and noticed that her car was still there and that he hadn't missed her. Dave felt his heart begin to relax.

He turned on the radio, and tried to find a station that wasn't country music. He settled on some talk show from Denver. A woman had called in and was asking about getting gum out of the fur of her dog. Dave quickly tuned it out as his interest shifted to the people on the street.

Everyone was so different, he thought. Everyone here has a different place to live, a different job, their own lives. He was briefly saddened by the realization that he could never know all these people. He was also worried that even if he did introduce himself to some of them that they might not like him.

His thoughts continued in this way until he saw what he was waiting for. She had finally come out of city hall and was walking towards her car. He had to act fast because the moment she got to it, she'd be gone.

He jumped out and pushed the door to close it. His momentum was such that he was half way across the first lane before it registered that the door wasn't fully closed. In a brief moment of indesicion and confusion, he went back to his car and gave it a push to make it catch. Dave then gave a quick glance to see if there was any traffic coming, and seeing that it was clear, made his way to the median.

There was traffic on the other side of the median. A lot of traffic and it was moving fast. She was almost to her car. Dave had to do something. He held out his hand and jumped into traffic. He had one of those odd misplaced thoughts if the hand was meant to protect him from being hit or if it was to signal to the cars to stop. Other than a few honks and harsh looks, crossing the two lanes wasn't difficult, though he felt embarassed for stopping traffic like that. He hoped the cop wasn't around.

Dave saw the woman and walked quickly up to her. When he was almost there he tried to relax his walk and expression. He knew first impressions were important. When he was shoulder to shoulder with her, he raced ahead, and turned around.

"Hey there foxy lady, can I buy you a taco?"

Volksie stood stunned. Her mind was incapable of dealing with the new problem that it had just encountered. It struggled to process the stranger with the corny line. It tried to make sense of it but gave up. She detoured around the man and half ran to her car. She got in and locked the door. Though half afraid to, she glanced into the mirror. He was still standing in the same place, but he was looking at her and the car. He looked sad and confused, but she knew she couldn't deal with this right now.

As she was pulling out of the parking lot, she saw a police officer. She thought about calling him over to report the strange man, but decided against it. She would give the man that much. She suddenly realized that she felt a strange kinship towards him. She had no idea what to make of that.

Dave's heart was beating so hard he thought it was going to explode. He stared at her eyes and waited for a smile to form in them, but he saw only confusion.